It is becoming more and more common to make various types of devices and their functions accessible by connecting the devices to computer networks. However, in most cases the owner of the devices or the network is not interested in letting every one having access to the network have access to the devices and their functionality. In order to solve this problem the system may be arranged to provide users with specific access privileges. These access privileges may for instance be that the user is allowed to access the video from a surveillance camera A, but not access a pan tilt control for controlling the viewing direction of the same camera.
Moreover, access privileges schemes are often implemented in security systems, e.g. surveillance systems, burglary protections, access control systems, fire alarm systems, etc. When systems are used for such critical functions, a scheme for access privileges becomes very important.
Most systems implementing schemes for handling access privileges allow a system administrator to set the access privileges of each user individually for each camera. However, the managing of such a system quickly becomes complicated and burdensome to manage as the number of users and devices increases. In some systems access level groups or user groups are introduced in order to facilitate the managing. In those cases, the managing is facilitated by the fact that you only have to manage the access privileges of each group.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,379, Oya et al., some methods for managing access privileges are described. One method described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,379 for facilitating the managing of access privileges is to bundle users into user groups as described above. Generally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,379 describes setting access privileges for a user group by selecting a camera from a camera list, indicating in a dialog box which is opened upon selection of the camera that access privilege settings is requested. Then an access control panel or dialog box of the camera is presented. In the access control panel, it is possible to select a predefined access mode. By changing the access mode of the camera, predefined access privileges for all the user groups are set in the system. In order to set the access privileges at a more detailed level, an access privilege window is opened from the access control panel. The access privilege window then presents a matrix indicating the access privileges of each user group relating to each function of the selected camera.
The methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,379 are cumbersome to process, particularly when access privileges to a plurality of different cameras are to be set. Moreover, the methods do not give the administrator of the access privileges many alternatives especially when it comes to customizing the access privileges for different users.